» Exoplanet

For almost a decade and a half, astronomers have been finding new planets orbiting distant stars — first a trickle and, more recently, a flood of alien worlds, with the tally now well above 400, and climbing every day.

mmmscience writes “The newly-discovered exoplanet COROT-7b has an unusual form of precipitation: rocks. Because it orbits so close to its sun, the temperature on its sun-facing side is around 4220 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hot enough for rocks to vaporize — not unlike water evaporating on Earth. And, like Earth, when the vapor cools in the upper atmosphere, it forms clouds and begins to rain. But instead of water, COROT-7b gets a shower of (more…)